1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method for mechanically detaching fillet-shaped meat from poultry bodies, which have been prepared as "front-halves" and from which the wings and the skin have been removed, by means of a scraping action, as well as to an apparatus for carrying out such method, the apparatus comprising conveying means driven to revolve and having saddle-shaped receptacles for conveying the pieces to be processed with the breast facing upwardly and with the neck leading, and controllable scraping blades, which are arranged at both sides of the path defined by the receptacles, have a dish-shaped profile and face the path of said receptacles with their concave sides.
2. Related Art
From U.S. Pat. No. 4 557 017 there is known an apparatus for gaining the breast meat of breast sections of poultry bodies, which are fixed on a saddle-shaped conveyor with the breast facing upwardly and are conveyed through the operative region of a series of processing tools. Initially, the breast meat is severed by means of two knife blades at both sides of the breastbone, and then it is stripped off from the skeleton portions lying thereunder starting from the incisions made by the knife blades. The stripping off is performed by stripping elements which are arranged to be inclined with regard to the path of the conveyor, which elements are provided with stripping edges made of flexible material.
Furthermore, there is known a filleting device from EP 1 68 865, in which the fillet meat is pushed off from the poultry bodies by means of tools starting from the rib portions towards the breastbone, these tools being arranged along the lower run of a conveyor equipped with saddles for fixing the poultry bodies. After incisions have been made in the meat of the back along both sides of the backbone, and the head of the wishbone (clavicula) has been removed, the wishbone branches which have remained on the carcass are scraped free by means of a panel or screen, whereafter the fillet meat is pushed off up to the vicinity of the ridge of the breastbone by means of strippers. Then, the meat is detached in the transitional area towards the breastbone and from the flanks thereof, and it is finally scraped off from the ridge of the breastbone, which actions occur by means of stripping fingers.
Finally, a device having the above structure is disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 4 682 386 in which, for the purpose of gaining meat, poultry bodies fixed on saddles and conveyed with their breastbone facing upwardly are processed in the lower run of a conveyor. In this processing the meat is initially severed from the skeleton in the region of the ribs by means of stationary blades, whereupon the shoving off of the meat from the wishbone is performed by severing the wing tendons through wingshaped blades which are arranged to be controlled to move into the path of the poultry bodies and to remain there stationary as well. Finally, plates which form a tunnel in their operative positions cause the meat to be stripped off from the skeleton up to the breastbone. The complete severing is performed by a fork-shaped fillet stripper, which strips off the fillet from the flanks of the breastbone in the form of a double fillet.
By means of the cited known devices it is possible, in general, to gain the meat of poultry bodies in the form of single or double fillets mechanically. However, when regarding and rating this under aspects of quality and quantity, it has to be appreciated that the result of such processing is not satisfactory. The reason for this is that the surface of the fillet severed from the skeleton of the poultry body is particularly rough and rugged in those portions which were situated in the region of the ribs. The reason for this is that hitherto the gaining of the meat portions situated in the region of the shoulder blades has never been an immediate object, which resulted in that the meat which had been detached from the skeleton otherwise was torn off in an undefined manner in this region.